1. Technical Field
The present invention relates generally to computer networks and more particularly to authenticating a user of a client machine running a native operating system against a user account held at a non-native server domain.
2. Description of the Related Art
The client-server model of computing is a well-known environment. In the model, the user of a computer utilizes a "client" system. The client system runs any of a number of computer operating systems to manage the basic functions that users execute (such as accessing files, executing programs, system administration and the like) as well as to serve as the base against which programs are written. Well-known client operating systems include Microsoft Windows 3.1, Windows for Workgroups, Windows 95, IBM.RTM. OS/2.RTM. Warp, Apple Macintosh, DOS, many variations of UNIX, and Microsoft Windows NT. The client system serves as the user's workstation, and it may execute programs as well as store some user data.
The server system can also run any of a number of computer operating systems. Well-known server operating systems include Novell Netware, IBM OS/2 Warp Server, IBM AS/400.RTM., Microsoft Windows NT, and many variations of OSF UNIX. The server system is accessed by the client system for specific functions. The functions include, but are not limited to, storage and retrieval of data, storage and execution of applications, and storage of and access to user information.
Industry standards have been developed (for critical and common functions) to aid in the access from different types of client systems to different types of server systems. The use of these standards on the client and server afford users the opportunity to carry out functions in a consistent manner on a variety of common client and server operating systems. One of the activities that has been standardized is the "authentication" of users. Authentication refers to the process in which a user is validated as being able to complete a logon and/or access a system. Standard protocols have been defined within the X/Open Server Message Block (SMB) specification and the Open Systems Foundation (OSF) Distributed Computing Environment (DCE) specification.
While many products and operating systems have been developed that utilize the standard protocols, not all products have used the standards. When this occurs, either additional work must be done by the other operating system to implement the unique commands used by a vendor, or access to the other new system and/or product is not allowed if the unique commands are not made available to other vendors. When the commands and/or protocol are not made available, that aspect of the system and/or product is sometimes characterized as being "closed".
The Microsoft Windows NT operating system is becoming a dominant client system in many enterprise computer networks. Because of the "closed" nature of Windows NT, a user of a client machine running this operating system may only log on against an account held at the machine, at a server running the Windows NT operating system, or at any other servers that are "trusted" by the NT server that the client is configured against. Only these options are supplied to the user during the logon process, and there are presently no documented interfaces to allow user authentication from non-native server domains. Moreover, in known Windows NT systems, a local NT user account is required for logon and subsequent user actions. Thus, the NT user account required for initial authentication may exist only on an NT client or in an NT server domain. This closed architecture eliminates the ability to do full centralized administration from a source other than an NT server environment, and there is no open capability to create a necessary user account based on information received from a user account provider other than Windows NT.
Windows NT systems do have the capability of storing and retrieving a so-called "user profile" which typically comprises a user desktop definition and preferences. A user profile is typically stored on either a local Windows NT client or a Windows NT server. Even though the Windows NT server supports the Server Message Block (SMB) protocol, storage and retrieval of users profiles from general SMB servers domains is not supported. In other words, there is no known mechanism for user profile storage on and retrieval from systems other than native Windows NT. Thus, if primary authentication of a Windows NT client at a source other than a Windows NT server is to be achieved, it would be desirable to have an associated mechanism to store and retrieve user profiles on file systems other than native Windows NT (e.g., SMB server domains and servers supporting Distributed File Services (DFS)).
The present invention solves this problem.